1 Business Partnering 2004 – Follow up to 2003’s HR Survey: Where we are, where we’re heading CIPD
Thinking Performer:
The CIPD has stated that:
All personnel and development specialists must be thinking performers. That is, their central task is to be knowledgeable and competent in their various fields and be able to move beyond compliance to provide a critique of organisational policies and procedures and to advise on how organisations should develop in the future.
Armstrong2 defines it as thus “HR professional have to think carefully about what they are doing in the context of their organisation and within the framework of a recognised body of knowledge and they have to perform effectively in the sense of delivering advice, guidance and services which will help the organisation to achieve its strategic goals.”
Within our organisation, we are rapidly expanding, focusing upon reaching tier one status and working against a weakening Korean Won. The need for HR to be increasingly business focussed is essential. We must focus more upon the outcome as opposed to the process. In order to allow time for strategic operations and strategic thinking, we must streamline and where appropriate, automate processes. The introduction of an Applicant Tracking System and further reliance upon our own increasingly functional and robust systems is essential. I approximate that we currently spend two hours per person per day on administrative processes that can be automated and, if automated, will give virtually an extra days work hours per day based upon our team of four.
The very pace of our environment on a day-to-day basis means that hiring managers are feeling burdened by the work they need to do in order to recruit a member of staff. By introducing an Applicant Tracking System we can lessen that burden if it encompasses all of the functionality required by both “the business” and HR. In order to achieve such a goal, it is important that the “the business” is involved in the selection of the tool. Whilst this may be a little time consuming initially, the time saved by such an implementation can save so much more time over a longer period. Our current budget is £5000 so I have produced a process flow document, in discussion with colleagues, to detail what is needed prior to meeting with vendors.
Our current in house system requires hiring managers to manually complete a manpower requisition form which is then sent to HR. HR then put this form through the in house system for approval by three senior managers. These senior managers are often travelling and when not, are exceptionally busy so not always inclined to look at this system as they are no doubt still trawling through all of the emails that I have sent to them! We should arrange for our IT department to add functionality to the current in house system that would send an email to the relevant senior manager when an approval was waiting for their attention. This would reduce the time again taken by HR to respond to requests of “can you nudge him to get it signed off?”
Upon the implementation of the ATS (Applicant Tracking System), the hiring
1 Armstrong, M, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice 9th ed 2003
managers must be given thorough training and demonstrations to show the positive impact that this can have upon their work lives. My aim is allow hiring managers’ one point of access to a system that will advise them as to where we are up to in terms of recruitment, to make interview requests, to put interview feedback directly into a system and to review and CV’s in that system which would also mean that their email in-boxes are not clogged with CV’s and requests regarding candidates. Such a system would also allow for HR’s performance to be efficiently measured in that management reports regarding recruiting could be produced at the touch of a button rather than HR having to trawl through mounds of paperwork. We would also be more quickly able to work out which roles take us longer to recruit for allowing us to
better use our time to by researching better and speedier methods of recruiting in certain areas.
We will also contribute to the success of the organisation as a “business partner” by maintaining and working a database of candidates which would mean less reliance on agencies which would reduce departmental costs, faster recruiting and more ability to network with candidates.
A similar tack was taken by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) in 2001 when a merger of government departments revealed an outdated and sluggish HR function. The DWP decided to modernise its HR function and included in this programme was the delivery of a new integrated information system with employee and line manager front ends. The results were impressive with line managers concluding that HR was providing a human face that was expert and accountable in addition to providing more effective support for specific ‘HR’ activities such as resourcing and performance management exercises.
HMV’s HR Director, Chris Donnelly, implemented an online recruiting strategy to deal with the large number of applications that they receive. It started out as a simple online application form has evolved into an applicant tracking, processing and filtering system. Over the Christmas period, it reduced recruitment costs by 65% and saved over 800 hours of store managers’ time. Indeed the evolution of the system to allow an online questionnaire has allowed HMV to recruit better people and their staff turnover has reduced from by 10% to 25% since the evolution of the system.
Another opportunity to demonstrate my abilities as a thinking performer and business partner would be to schedule monthly lunch meetings. These meetings would be hosted by each division and the invitees would be every other member of the organisation. This would enable all areas of the business to understand the way that the rest of the business works, the roles within those divisions and the areas of responsibility. Thinking of Honey & Mumfords’ theory regarding learning styles, this would appeal most to the theorist learners in that they would be in a structured environment with a defined purpose but also to the activists who like to be involved in new experiences. Additionally, it adds another element of Kolb’s learning cycle – reflective observation – actively thinking about the experience and its significance.
This would also allow a broader spectrum for brainstorming in that creative solutions to problems and pertinent information can be shared division wide. It could be for example that one division needs certain information about a competitor or market forecasts and someone in the audience of that meeting (outside of that division) would have that information and enable better performance company wide. My hope here is that by sharing information and awareness company-wide, strong inter-departmental relationships can be forged due to better understanding. If for example, a number of sales people are unaware of the processes of the credit control department, by having a lunch-meeting for credit control to advise of those processes, the sales people will be better prepared for the involvement of credit control in their own roles. They will also be better able to work with their own customers advising of the internal processes that will affect delivery deadlines or payment terms.
I would also recommend the development of an intranet to allow HR and business managers to get closer to employees by encouraging feedback on all aspects of employment. The intranet should be integrated with other systems to allow for easy use but any comments posted by employees should be anonymous to allow for honesty from employees. Indeed, Deloitte & Touche’s CEO and Managing Partner – John Connolly, believes that by surveying their employees on a regular basis, they have been enabled to understand what it is that drives their staff commitment to the firm. Engaging their staff is considered to be a key part of their HR strategy and to do this, they need to have a solid understanding of the issues that concern them.
These are but some of the ways in which I would demonstrate my value in terms of being a business partner and thinking performer. It is my belief that all employees of our organisation should demonstrate both of these qualities in all aspects of their work to enable us to better deal with the unpredictable nature of our business, the market and our economy.
